This great map lets you explore the history of migration for every country in the world

Amid all the recent clamour, arguments and figures regarding the refugee crisis and the wider, separate topic of immigration, it sometimes can be easy to get lost in all the numbers. The International Organisation for Migration has a visualisation which allows users to see at a glance the multinational make-up of countries' populations. Using data taken from the World Bank in 2010, it built a tool which helps users comprehend the numbers for inward and outward migration in each individual country. To use the visualisation, click on a country and see the pattern of migration to or from the nation. Each circle represents up to 20,000 people, which you can hover over to see the nationalities thereof. Note: To view the migration app you will require a modern web browser. More: Think Britain is a soft touch on immigration? More: An open letter to anyone who ever talked down the refugee crisis

This version of Super Mario tells the plight of Syrian refugees crossing EuropeA Syrian artist has created a version of Super Mario Bros to tell of the hardship facing his compatriots as they cross Europe. Instead of showing the Italian plumber's adventures in the Mushroom Kingdom, a video re-making of the game sees "Refugee Mario" dodging fraudulent people traffickers and angry border guards, making his way across the sea and finally making it to the relative safety of an EU internment camp. Samir al-Mufti, a pseudonym the Istanbul-based artist uses for "security reasons", told the BBC that the experiences of his friends who have made the perilous journey helped to shape the design of the game. Five months ago my best friend drowned in the sea while travelling from Izmir [Turkey] to Greece. The engine on the boat exploded. That's when I got the idea for the video.

100 outstanding interactive maps of 2015 – part 2What a great treat we have for all of those interested in visualization and map-making, in this second part of our list with 100 outstanding interactive maps of 2015. Looking back at all the projects we featured week after week, and knowing that we’re leaving out so many that could easily be part of such a selection, we couldn’t be more excited for the year ahead. This is also our final week of the year (articles-wise, we’ll continue with full support to our gallery even during the holidays), so we’d like to thank you all for the audience, specially those that follow our “Digital Cartography” updates, every Wednesday. We really appreciate it, and hopefully we were able to help you keeping track of what’s being done in the data visualization world,.

The Most Beautiful and Famous Trees on Earth“A tree is a wonderful living organism which gives shelter, food, warmth and protection to all living things. It even gives shade to those who wield an axe to cut it down” – Buddha. There are probably hundreds of majestic and magnificent trees in the world – of these, some are particularly special:American Panorama is an Interactive Atlas for the 21st CenturyFor many of us, the word “atlas” evokes memories of tattered roadmaps stuffed into a glove compartment. And while atlases are technically just collections of maps (be they of roads, outer space, the world wide web, or the human body), the good ones also have a way of presenting a more holistic picture of the things they document. American Panorama, a cool new project from the University of Richmond’s Digital Scholarship Lab, is a great example.

Pushed back into the fire: the refugees who feel compelled to return to SyriaThe Bedouin town of Mafraq is only a short drive from the gates of the Zaatari refugee camp in Jordan, which David Cameron visited on Monday to show off the contribution of British aid. It presents, however, an altogether more troubling image. It hosts about 100,000 refugees, who outnumber the town’s Jordanian citizens and the population of Zaatari.19 thought-provoking maps that will change how you see the world1. There are only three countries in the world where your boss is more likely to be a woman. 2.

Organisation internationale pour les migrationsThe Where We're From interactive app tracks migrants around the world. This application is now being hosted by IOM.int. Its endlessly fascinating to explore where we're from. The underlying data for the map was published by the World Bank in 2010. We want to bring it up to date so please send your country migration data to ocu@iom.int. Soon there will be individual migration flow maps on IOM’s country pages as well.

These Maps Show How Vast New Infrastructure Is Bringing the World TogetherSINGAPORE — There’s no better way to score points for gravitas in today’s media than claiming that the world is falling apart. Just say on air that, “This is the most dangerous time since the peak of the Cold War,” and witness your star rise. But such talking heads are responding to yesterday’s news and extrapolating the worst scenarios, whereas the underlying trends seem in fact to point in a very different direction. If you want to understand the world of tomorrow, why not just look at a good map?